Building the capability and capacity of peoples is the focus of Te Takapou Tupua - the working partnership agreement between the houses of Te Kāhui o Rauru, Ngā Rauru Kītahi and Tatauranga Aotearoa, with Stats NZ.
They have signed the commitment to improve access to data and increase opportunities for iwi, hapū, whānau and Māori businesses for engagement and input into decisions made for their future.
Stats NZ deputy chief executive Māori partnerships Tia Warbrick says Takapou Tupua was created to better understand the aspirations and needs of Māori, and for them to have control over their futures.
“It’s also got a key role in enabling iwi to track the progress of those pathways and progress of those priorities they implement, to understand what the outcomes of those were and what their next steps might be.”
Ngā Rauru Kītahi see housing and health as some key areas to have a “fit for purpose” data management plan and strategy, which in turn will have them make “data-driven decisions”, Warbrick says.
“I think data is a real enabler for empowering communities to be able to articulate their realities and secure their pathways for future development with evidence.
“For example, data represents who people are, what they’re doing, provides analytics for hapū, iwi and Māori to make decisions about those opportunities for supporting their whānau.”
Although Ngā Rauru Kītahi isn’t the only iwi with a partnership with Stats NZ, Warbrick says there is potential for more with other iwi too.
Work now begins to find out exactly what data needs to be retrieved for Ngā Rauru Kītahi for it to make its aspirations a reality.
